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BY 



ALEXANDER POPE, Esjg^ 




THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER, 
OTHER VALUABLE PIECES, 

SELECTED FROM HIS WORKS. 
« The proper study of mankind is man." 



PHILADELPHIA : 

PBINTEB AND PUBLISHED BT M*CABTY & Si-YIS, 

2U4 Market street. 

1821. 

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AN ESSAY ON MAN. 

IN FOUR EPISTLES, 

TO H. ST. J0H^,L.B0Ll]VG8R0KE. 



THE DESIGN. 

HAVING proposed to write some pieces on human 
life and manners, such as (to use my Lord Bacon's ex- 
pression) come home to men^s bitmiess and bosoms, I 
thought it more satisfactory to begin with considering 
man in the abstract, his nature and his state : since, to 
prove any moral duty, to enforce any moral precept, op 
to examine the perfection or imperfection of any crea- 
ture whatsoever, it is necessary first to know what cour 
dition and relation it is placed in, and what is the pror 
per end and purpose of its being. 

The science of human nature, is, like all other scien- 
ces, reduced to a few clear points : — Tlxere are not ma- 
ny certain truths in this world. It is therefore in the 
anatomy of the mind, as in that of the body ; more good 
wDl accrue to mankind by attending to the large, open 
and perceptible parts, than by studying too much such 
finer nerves and vessels the conformation and uses of 
which will forever escape our observation. The disputes 
are all upon these last, and I will venture to say, they have 
less sharpened the wits than the hearts ofmen against each 
other, and have diminished the practice, inorL- than z.--\-, 
vanced the theory oi" morality. If I could flatter myself 
that this essay has any merit, it is m steering betwixt the 



IV THE DESIGN. 

extremes of doctrines seemingly opposite, in passing 
over terms utterly unintelligible, and in forming-, a tem- 
perate, yet not inconsistent, and a short, yet not imper- 
fect system of ethics. 

This I mig-ht have done in prose : but I chose verse, 
and even rhyme, for two reasons. The one will appear 
obvious; that principles, maxims, or precepts, so writ, 
ten, both strike the reader more strongly at first, and 
are more easily retained by him afterwards. The other 
may seem odd, but is true ; I found I could express 
them more shortly this way than in prose itself; and no- 
thing- is more certain than that much of the force, as well 
as g-race of arguments or instructions, depends on their 
conciseness, i was unable to treat tiiis part of my sub- 
ject more in detail, without becoming dry and tedious : 
or more poetically, without sacrificing perspicuity to or- 
nament, without wandering from the precision, or break- 
ing tlie chain of reasoning. If any man can unite all 
these without diminution of any of them, I freely con- 
fess he will compass a thing above my capacity. 

What is now pubhshed, is only to be considered as a 
general map of man, marking out no more than the 
greater parts, their extent, their limits, and their con- 
nexion, but leaving the particulars to be more fully de- 
lineated in the charts which are to follow. Consequent. 
ly, these epistles, in their progress, (if I have health and 
leisure to make any progress) will be less dry, and more 
susceptible of poetical ornament, I am here only opening 
the fountains, and clearing the passage : — To deduce 
the rivers, to follow them in their course, and to observe 
their ettects, may be a task more agreeable. 



EPISTLE I. 

Of THE NATURE AND STATE OE MAN WJTU RESPECT TO THJS 
INIVERSE, 

THE ARGUMENT. 

O/'Man in the abstract.— Tliat we can judge only with regard to our own 
systtni, bting ignorant of the relation's of systems and things^ ver. 17, 
^c. to 69. Tliat man is not to be deemed inpeiftit, but a being suited 
to his plat e and rank in 'he creation, agreeable to the general <.ider of 
things, andconforjnnble ?otJtds and rtlatioiisio him unknown, 9, iyc^ 
That it is imrtly upon his igi'orance of futme events, and partly upon 
the hope of a future state, that all his happiness in the present depends 
73, clrc. The piide o/' uhning at more knowledge and prete/iding to 
more perfection, the cause of mail's error and ndsery, Tlu: impiety of 
putting himself in the place of God, andjndging uf tlifftness or unfit 
ness, perfection or imperfection, ju%tice or injustice of his disfjcnsalionsy 
loy to 120. The absurdity of conceiting himself tlie tinal cause uj' the 
crenfion, or fxpecting that perfection in the Jiioral world ivhich is not in 
the liatural. 1^7 to 140, The imreasouableiiLss oj'his complaints against 
providence, rvhile on the one hand he demands the peifecti'/ns of the 
angels, on the other hand the bodily qualifications ofi he brutes, i65. That 
to possess any of the sensitive faculties in a higlter degree loould render 
him miserable, ISl to 198. T/iat throughout the xvho/c visible world, one 
univei'sal oi\\er and grddm\on in the sensual and mental J'acnkics is 
observed, which ca/zie*- o subordination of creature to creuivi-e and of all 
creatures to man. The gradations of sense, instinct, thought, retiectiou, 
reason ; that reason alone couiitcrvnils all the othtrfaculties, iy9 to 224. 
Hmv much farther this order anr/ subordination of living creatures may 
extend above and below us; whei'e any part of which bioken, not that 
part only, but the whole comiected creation must be destroyed. Th^ 
extravagance, madness, and pride if such a desire, 225 to 2n , Ths 
consequence of all, the absolute submission c^w^o Prevideme, bothnstci 
oup present and future state, 273, (ire. 



6 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Awake my St. John ! leave all meaner things 

To low ambition, and the pride of kings. 

Let us (since life can httle more supply 

Than just to look about us and to die) 

Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man ; 5 

A mighty maze ! but not without a plan : 

A wild, where weeds and flowers promiscuous shoot : 

Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit. 

Together let us beat this ample field, 

Try what the open, what the covert yield ? 10 

The latent tracts, the giddy heights explore 

Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar ; 

Eye nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies, 

And catch the manners hving as they rise ; 

Laugh where we must, be candid where we can, 15 

But vindicate the ways of God to man. 

I. Say first, of God above, or man below ; 
What can we reason, but from what we know ? 
Of man, what see we, but his station here, 
From wliich to reason, or to w liicli refer ? '20 

Thro' worlds unnumber'd tho' the God be known, 
^Tis ours to trace Mm only in our own. 
He, who thro' vast immensity can pierce. 
Sees worlds on worlds compose one universe ; 
Observes how system into system runs, 25 

What other planets circle other suns ; 
What vaiy'd being peoples ev'ry star, 
May tell whv heav'n has made us as we are. 



EPISTLE I. 7 

But of this frame, the bearings and the ties. 

The strong- connexions, nice dependencies, 30 

Gradations just, has thy pervading- soul 

Look'd thro' ? or can a part contain the whole ? 

Is the great chain that draws all to agree, 

And drawn, supports, upheld by God or thee ? 

II. Presumptuous man ? tlie reason wouldst thou find, 
"Why form'd so weak, so little, and so bUnd ? 36 

First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess, 
"Why formM no weaker, bUnder, and no less ? 
Ask of thy mother earth, why oaks are made 
Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade ? 40 

Or ask of yonder argent fields above. 
Why Jove's satellites are less than Jove ? 
Of systems possible, if 'tis confest. 
That wisdom infinite must form the best, 
"Where all must fall or not coherent be, 45 

And all that rises, rise in due degree : 
Then, in the scale of reas'ning life, 'tis plain, 
There must be, somewhere, sucn a rank as man ; 
And all the questions (wrangle e'er so long) 
Is only this^ If God has plac'd him wrong ? 50 

Respecting man, whatever wrong we call, 
May, must be right, as relative to all. 
In human works, though labor'd on with pain, 
A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain; 
In God's one single can its end produce ; 55 

Yet serves to second too some other use. 



8 ESSAY ON MAN. 

So man, who here seems principal alone. 

Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown. 

Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal ; 

'Tis but a part we see, and not a whole. 60 

When the proud steed shall know why man restrains 

His fiery course, or drives him o'er the plains ; 

When the dull ox, why now he breaks the clod. 

Is now a victim, and now Egypt's god : 

Then shall man's pride and dullness comprehend 65 

His actions', passions', being^s, use and endj 

Why doing, sufTering, check'd, impell'd : and why? 

This hour a slave, the next a deity. 

Then say not man's imperfect, heav'n in fault ; 
Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought ; 70 

His knowledge measur'd to liis state and place ; 
His time a moment, and a pomt his space. 
Jf to be perfect in a certain sphere, 
What matter soon or late, or here or there : 
The blest to-day is as completely so, Jb 

As who began a thousand years ago. 

III. Heav'n from all creatures hides the book of fate. 
All but the page prescrib'd their present state ; 
From brutes what men, from men what spirits know. 
Or who could suffer being here below ? 80 

The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day. 
Had he thy reason, would he skip and play ? 
Pleas'd to the last he crops the flow'ry food. 
And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood, 



' EPISTLE I. 9 

Oh blindness to the future ! kindly gir'n, 85 

That each may fill the circle mark'd by heav'n ; 

Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, 

A hero perish, or a sparrow fall. 

Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd, 

And now a bubble burst, and now a world. 90 

Hope humbly then ; with trembling- pinions soar ; 
Wait the great teacher, death ; and God adore. 
What future bhss, he gives not thee to know. 
But gives that hope to be thy blessing now. 
Hope springs eternal in the human breast : 95 

Man never is, but alwa3''s to be blest ; 
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home, 
Rests and expatiates in a life to come. 
Lo, the poor Indian ! whose untutor'd mind. 
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind ; 100 

His soul proud science never taught to stray 
Far as the solar walk, or milky way ; 
Yet simple nature to his hope has giv'n. 
Behind the cloud-topt hill, an humbler heav'n : 
Some safer world, in depth of woods embrac'd, 105 
Some happier island in the wat'ry waste. 
Where slaves once more their native land behold, 
No fiends torment, no christians thirst for gold. 
To be, content's his natural desire. 
He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire ; 110 

But thinks, admitted to that equal sky. 
His faithful dog shall bear him company. 



10 ESSAY ON MAN. 

IV. Go, wiser thou ! and in thy scale of sense, 
Weigh thy opinion against providence ; 

Call imperfection what thou fancy'st such, 115 

Say, here he gives too little, there too much ; 

Destroy all creatures for thy sport or gust. 

Yet cry. If man's unhappy, God's unjust ; 

If man alone engross not heav'n's high care, 

Alone made perfect here, immortal there : 1^ 

Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod. 

Re -judge his justice, be the God of God, 

In pride, in reas'ning pride, our error hes ; 
All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies. 
Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes : 125 

Men would be angels, angels would be Gods. 
Aspiring to be Gods, if angels fell. 
Aspiring to be angels, men rebel : 
And who but wishes to invert the laws 
Of ORDER, sins against th' Eternal Cause. 130 

V. Ask for what end the heav'nly bodies shine. 
Earth for whose use ? Pride answers, « 'Tis for mine : 
*« For me kind nature wakes her genial pow'r, 

« Suckles each herb, and spreads out every flow'r ; 

" Annual for me, the grape, the rose renew 135 

« The juice nectarious, and the balmy dew : 

« For me, the mine a thousand treasures brings : 

" For me, health gushes from a thousand springs; 

« Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise : 

'* My footstool earth, my canopy the skies." 140 



EFISTLE I. 11 

liut errs not nature from this gracious end, 
i'rom burning suns when livid deaths descend, 
When earthquakes swallow, or when tempests sweep 
Towns to one grave, whole nations to the deep ? 
'< JVo ('tisreply'd) the first Almighty Cause 145 

Acts not by partialf but by gea^ral laws : 
Th' exceptions few ; some change since all began / 
And what created perfect ?^' — Why then man ? 
If the great end be human happiness, 
Then nature deviates — and can man do less ? 150 

As much that end a constant course requires 
Of show'rs and sunshine, as of man's desires : 
As much eternal springs, and cloudless skies, 
As man forever temp'rate, calm, and wise 154 

If plagues or earthquakes break not heav'n's design. 
Why then a Borgia, or a Cataline ? 
Who knows but he, whose hand the hght'ning foiTns, 
Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms ; 
Pours fierce ambition in a Caesar's mind, 159 

Or turns young Ammon loose to scourge mankind ? 
From pride, from pride, our very reas'ning springs ; 
Account for moral, as for nat'ral things : 
Why charge we heav'n in those, in these acquit ? 
In both, to reason right, is to submit. 

Better for us, perhaps, it might appear, 165 

Were there all harmony, all virtue here ; 
That never air or ocean felt the wind ; 
That never passion discompos'd the mind. 
But ALL subsists by elemental strife ; 
And passions are the elements of life, If© 



12 ESSAY ON MAN. 

The general order since the whole began, 
Is kept in nature, and is kept in man, 

VI. What would this man ? now upward will he soar. 
And little less than angel, would be more ; 
Now lookmg downward, just as griev'd appears 175 
To want the strength of bulls the fur of bears. 
Made for his use all creatui-es if he call. 
Say what their use, had he the powers of all ? 
Nature to these, without profusion, kind. 
The proper organs, proper powers assign'd : 180 

Each seeming want compensated of course. 
Here with degi-ees pf swiftness, there of force ; 
All in exact proportion to the state ; 
Nothing to add, and nothing to abate. 
Each beast, each insect, happy in its own : 185 

Is heav'n unkind to man, and man alone ? 
Shall he alone, whom rational we call, 
Be pleas'd with notliing, if not blest with all ? 

The bliss of man (could pride that blessing find) 
Is not to act or tliink beyond mankind ; 190 

No pow'rs of body or of soul to share. 
But what his nature and liis state can bear. 
Why has not man a microscopic eye ? 
For this plain reason, man is not a fly. 
Say what the use, were finer optics given, 195 

T' inspect a mite, not comprehend the heav*n ? 
Or touch, if tremblingly alive all o'er. 
To smart and agonize at every pore? 



EPISTLE I. 13 

Or quick effluvia darting through the brain. 

Die of a rose, in aromatic pain ? 200 

If Nature thunder'd in his opening ears, 

And stunn'd him with the music of the spheres. 

How would he wish that heav'n had left him still 

The whisp'ring zephyr and the purling rill ? 

Who finds not providence all good and wise, 205 

Ahke in what it gives, and what denies ? ' 

Vn. Far as creation's ample range extends. 
The scale of sensual, mental pow'rs ascends ; 
Mark how it mounts to man's imperial race. 
From the green mjnriads in the peopled grass : 210 

What modes of sight, betwixt each wide extreme. 
The mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam ; 
Of smell, the headlong honess between. 
And hound sagacious on the tainted green : 
Of hearing, from the Ufe that fills the flood, 215 

To that wluch warbles through the vernal wood ? 
The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine ! 
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line : 
In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true. 
From poisonous herbs extracts the heahng dew ? 220 
How instinct varies in the grov'hng swine, 
Compar'd half-reas'ning elephant, with thine ! 
'Twixt that and reason, what a nice barrier ? 
Forever sep'rate, yet forever near ! 
Remembrance and reflection, how ally'd ! 225 

What thin partitions sense from thought divide i 
B 



14 ESSAY ON MAN. 

And middle natures, how they long" to join, i 

Yet never pass the insuperable Hue ! 

Without this just gradation, could they be 

Subjected, these to those, and all to thee ? 230 

The pow'rs of all subdu'd by thee alone, 

Is not thy reason all these pow'rs in one ? 

VIIT. See thro' this air, this ocean, and this earthj 
All matter quick, and bursting into birth. 
Above, how high progressive life may go ! 335 

Around, how wide ! how deep extend below ! 
Vast chain of being ! which from God beg-an. 
Nature's ethereal, human, angel, man. 
Beast, bird, fish, insect ; what no eye can see, 
No glass can reach ; from infinite to thee, 240 

From thee to nothing — On superior pow'rs 
Were we to press, inferior might on ours : 
Or in the full creation leave a void. 
Where, one step broken, the gi-eat scale's destroy'd ; 
From nature's chain, whatever link you strike, 24-5 

Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike. 

And, if each system in gradation roll, 
Ahke essential to th' amazing whole ; 
The least confusion but in one, not all 
That system only, but the whole must fall. 250 

Let earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly. 
Planets and suns run lawless through the sky ; 
Let ruling angels from their spheres be liurl'd. 
Being on Being" wi-eck'd, and world on world; 



EPISTLE I. 15 

Heaven's whole foundations to their centre nod 255 
And natures trembles to the throne of God ; 
All this dread order break — ^for whom i" for thee ? 
Vile worm ! Oh madness ! pride ! impiety ! 

IX. What if the foot, ordain*d the dust to tread, 
Or hand to toil, aspir'd to be the head ? 260 

What if the head, the eye, or ear repin'd 
To serve mere eng-ines to the ruHng" mind ? 
Just as absurd for any part to claim 
To be another, in this g-en'ral frame : 
Just as absurd, to mourn the tasks or pains, 265 

The great directing mijjd of all ordains. 
All are but parts of one stupendous whole. 
Whose body nature is, and God the soul ; 
That, chang'd through all, and yet in all the same ; 
Great in the earth, as in th' etherial frame ; 270 

Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze. 
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees. 
Lives through all Ufe, extends through all extent, 
Spreads undivided, operates unspent ; 
Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, 275 

As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart ; 
As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns, 
As the 'rapt sa-aph that adores and burns. 
To him no liigh, no low, no great, no small ; 
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. 280 

Cease, then, nor order Imperfection name : 
Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.- 



16 ESSAY ON MAN; 

Know thy own point — This kind, tliis due degi'ee 

Of blindness, weakness, heav'n bestows on thee. 

Submit. — In tliis, or any other sphere, 285 

Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear : 

Safe in the hand of one disposing- pow'r. 

Or in the natal, or the mortal hour. 

All nature is but art, unknown to thee ; 

All chance, direction, which thou canst not see ; 290 

All discord, harmony, not understood ; 

All partial evil, universal good : 

And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite> 

One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right. 



EPISTLE II. 

or THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH HESPECT TM 
HIMSELF, AS AN INDIVIDUAL. 

THE ARGUMENT. 

T/ie business of man not to pry into God, but to study hiiwieW. His mid- 
dle nature; fiisp07^er and frailties, and tlit limits of his capacity^ ver. 
43. The tivo pnnciples of man . self-love and reason, both necessai-y ; 
isell-love t/ie stronger, and why ; tlieir end the same, 83. The fiatsions 
and their use, 83 to 120. T/w predominant passion and its force, 122 to 
150. Its necessity in directing men to different purposes, 153, (ire Its 
providential use infixing our principle and ascertaining our virtue, 
167. Virtue and \ice joined :n our mixed nature ; tht limits near 
yet the separate and evident. fVhat is the office of reason, 187, trc 
Hffiv odious vice in itself, and hotv we deceive ourselves into it, 209. 
That however the ends of providence and general good are answered 
in our passions and imperfections, 230, ^c. How usefully they are 
distributed to all orders of men, 233 How useful they are to society, 
241, onrf <o i!^e individuals, 253, in every state, and every a^e of life 
263, Crc. 

I. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan ; 
The proper study of mankind is man. 
Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state, 
A being- darkly wise, and rudely great : 
With too much knowledge for the sceptic side, 5 

With too much weakness for the stoic's pride. 
He hangs between ; in doubt to act, or rest ; 
In doubt to deem himself a God, or beast ; 
In doubt his mind or body to prefer ; 
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to en* ; 10 

Alike in ignorance, liis reason such, 
Whether he thinks too little or too much : 



18 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd ; 

Still by himself abus'd or disabus'd : 

Created half to rise, and half to fall ; 15 

Great lord of all things, yet a prey to aU ; 

Sole judg-e of tiiith, in endless eiTor hurl'd, 

The glory, jest, and riddle of the world ! 

Go, wond'rous creatiu-e ! mount where science guides. 

Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides ; 20 

Instruct the planets in what orbs to rim. 

Correct old time, and regulate the sun ; 

Go, soar with Plato, to th' empyreal sphere. 

To the first good, first perfect, and first fair : 

Or tread the mazy round liis follow'rs trod, 25 

And quitting sense call imitating God ; 

As eastern priests in giddy circles run, 

And turn their heads to imitate the sun. 

Go, teach eternal wisdom how to rule — 

Then drop into thyself, and be a fool ! 30 

Superior beings, when of late they saw 
A mortal man unfold all natiu'c's law, 
Admir'd such wisdom in an earthly shape, 
And shew'd a Newton as we shew an ape. 
Could he, whose rples the rapid comet bind, 35 

Describe or fix one movement of his mind ? 
Who saw its fires here rise, and there descend, 
Explain his ovvai beginning, or his end ? 
Alas, what wonder ! man's superior part 
TJncheck'd may rise, and climb from art to art ; 40 



EPISTLE TI. 19 

But when his own gi'eal work is but begirn, 
What reason weaves, by passion is undone. 

Trace science then, with modesty thy guide ; 
First strip off all her equipage of pride ; 
Deduct what is b>it vanity, or dress, 46 

Or learning's luxury, or idleness ; 
Or tricks to shew the stretch of human brain, 
Mere curious pleasiu'e, or ing'enious pain : 
Expunge the whole, or lop ui' excrescent parts 
Of all our vices have created ails : 50 

Then see how little tlie remaining siun, 
Which serv'd the past, and mast the times to come ! 

n. Two principles in human nature reign ; 
Self love, to urge, and reason, to restrain ; 
Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call, 55 

Each works its end, to move or govern all ; 
And to tlieir ])roper operations still. 
Ascribe all good ; to their improper ill. 

Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul ; 
Reason's comparing* balance rules the whole. 60 

Man, but for that, no action could attend, 
And, but for this, were active to no end : 
Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot. 
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot ; 
Or, meteor-Uke, flame lawless through the void, 65 
Destroying others, by himself destroy 'd. 



20 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Most strength the moving principle requires ; 
Active its task, it prompts, impels, inspires. 
Sedate and quiet, the comparing- lies, 
Form'd but to check, dehb'rate, and advise. 70 

Self-love still strong-er, as its object's nigh ; 
Reason's at distance, and in prospect lie : 
That sees immediate good by present sense ; 
Reason, the futiu-e and the consequence. 
Thicker than arguments, temptations throng, 75 

At best more watchful tliis, but that more strong. 
The action of the stronger to suspend 
Reason still use, to reason still attend. 
Attention, habit and experience gain ; 
Each strengthens reason, and self-love restrains, 80 

Let subtle schoolmen teach these friends to fights 
More studious to divide than to unite ; 
And grace and virtue, sense and reason split. 
With all the rash dexterity of wit. 

Wits, just like fools, at war about a name, 85 

Have full as oft no meaning, or the same. 
Self-love and reason to one end aspire ; 
Pain their aversion, pleasure their desire ; 
But greedy that, its object would devour, 
This taste the honey, and not wound the flow'r : 90 
Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood. 
Our greatest evil, or our greatest good. 

ni. Modes of self love the passions we may call : 
'Trs real good, or seeming, moves them all ! 



EPISTLE II. 21 

But since not ev'ry good we can divide, 95 

Our Reason bids us for our own provide : 

Passions, tho' selfish, if their means be fair. 

List under reason and deserve her care ; 

Those, that imparted com't a nobler aim. 

Exalt their kind, and take some virtue's name. IQO 

In lazy apathy let stoics boast 
Their virtue tix'd — 'tis fix'd as in a frost ; 
Contracted all, retiring- to the breast ; 
But sti-ength of mind is exercise, not rest ; 
The rising tempest puts in act the soul, 105 

Parts it may ravage, but preserves the whole. 
On life's vast ocean diversely we sail. 
Reason the chart, but passion is the gale ; 
Nor God alone in the still calm we find. 
He mounts the storm, and walks upon the wind. IKJF 

Passions, like elements, though born to fight. 
Yet, mix'd and soften'd, in his work unite : 
These 'tis enough to temper and employ ; 
But what composes man, can man destroy ? 
Suffice tliat reason keep to nature's road, 115 

Subject, compound them, follow her and God. 
Love, hope, and joy, fair pleasure's smiling train. 
Hate, fear, and gi'ief, the family of pain : 
These mjx'd with art, and to due bounds confin'd. 
Make and maintain the balance of the mind : 120 

The lights and shades, whose well accorded strife^ 
Gives all the strength and colour of our life. 



22 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Pleasures are ever in our hands or eyes ; 
And when, in act they cease, in prospect, rise : 
Present to grasp, and iuture still to find, 125 

The whole employ of body and of mind. 
All spread their charms, but charm not all alike ; 
On different senses, diff'rent objects strike ; 
Hence diff'rent passions more or less inflame. 
As strong- or weak, the organs of the frame : 130 

And hence one Mastkr Passiox in the breast, 
Like Jtaroji's serpent, swallows up the rest. 

As man, perhaps, the moment of his breath. 
Receives the lurking principle of death ; 
The young disease, that must subdue at length, 135 
Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength:- 
So, cast and mingled with his very frame. 
The mind's disease, its rttlixg passioic came — ■ 
Each vital humour which should feed the whole. 
Soon flows to this in body and in soul : 140 

Whatever warms the heart, or fills the head. 
As the mind opens, and its functions spread. 
Imagination plies her dangerous art. 
And pours it all upon the peccant part. 
Nature its mother, habit is its nurse — 145 

Wit, spirit, faculties, but make it worse — 
Reason itself but gives it edge and power — 
As heaven's blest beam turns vinegar more sour : 
We, wretched subjects, though to lawful sway, 
fn this weak queen, some fav'rite still obey. 150 



EPISTLE ir. 23 

Ah ! if she lend not arms, as well as niles, 

What can she more than tell us we are fools ? 

Teach us to mourn our nature, not to mend ; 

A sharp accuser but a helpless friend ! 

Or from a judge turn pleader, to pursuade 155 

The choice we make, or justify it made ; 

Proud of an easy conquest all along-. 

She but removes weak passions for the strong 

So, when small humours gather to a gout. 

The doctor fancies he has driv'n them out. 160 

Yes, nature's road must ever be preferred ; 
Reason is here no guide, but still a guard ; 
'Tis her's to rectify, not overthrow. 
And treat this passion more as friend than foe : 
A mightier power the strong direction sends, 165 

And several men impels to several ends : 
Like varying winds, by other passions tost, '^ 

This drives them constant to a certain coast. 
Let power or knowledge, gold or glory, please, 
Or (oft more strong than all) the love of ease ; 170 

Through life 'tis follow'd, ev'n at life's expense ; 
The merchant's toil, the sage's indolence, 
The monk's humility, the hero's pride. 
All, all alike, find reason on their side. 

Th' eternal art, educing good from ill, 175 

Grafts on this passion our best principle ; 
'Tis thus tlie mercury of man is fix'd. 
Strong grows the virtue with his nature mix*d ; 



24 ESSAY ON MAN. 

The dross cements what else were too refin'd, 

And ui one interest h-j<^y acts with mind. 180 

As fillips, ungrateful to the planter's care, 
Oi. s..iug-e stocks inserted, learn to bear ; 
The surest virtues thus from passions shoot. 
Wild nature's vigor Vv'orking at the root. 
What crops of wit and honesty appear 185 

From spleen, from obstinacy, hate, or fear ! 
See ?nger, zeal and fortitude supply — 
Ev'n avarice, prudence — sloth, pliilosophy : 
Lust, through some certain strainers were refin'd 
Is gentle love, and charms all womankind ; 190 

Envy, to which th' ignoble mind's a slave, 
Is emidation in the learn'd or brave — 
Nor virtue, male or female, can we name. 
But what will grow on pride, or grow on shame. 

Thus nature gives us (let it check our pride) 195 
The virtue nearest to oui' vice ally'd : 
Reason the bias turns to good from ill. 
And Nero reigns a Titus, if he will. 
The fiery soul abhor'd in CataUne, 

In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine : 200 

The same ambition can destroy or save, 
And makes a patriot, as it makes a knave. 

This light and darknessin our chaos join'd. 
What shall divide ? The God within the mind. 



EPISTLE II. 25 

i 

Extremes in nature equal ends produce, 205 

In man they join to some mysterious use; 
Tho' each by turns the other's bounds invade, 
As, in some well-wi-ought picture, hght and shade, 
And oft so mix, the diff**rence is too nice, 
Whei'e ends the virtue, or beg^lns the vice. 210 

Fools ! who from hence into the notion fall. 
That vice or virtue there is none at all. 
If white and black blend, soften, and unite 
A thousand ways, is there no black or white ? 
Ask yoiu' own heart, and nothing is so plain ; 215 

'Tis to mistake them, costs tlie time and pain. 

Vice is a monster of so frightful mein. 
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen ; 
Yet seen too oft, famdiar, with her face. 
We first endure, then pity, then embrace. 22© 

But Where's th' extreme of vice, was ne'er agreed : 
Ask Where's the north ? at York, 'tis on the Tweed ; 
In Scotland, at the Orcades ; and there. 
At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where. 
No creature owns it in the first degree, 225 

But thinks his neighbour further gone than he ; 
Ev'n those who dwell beneath its very zone. 
Or never feel tlie rage, or never own ; 
What happier natures shrink at with affright, 
The hard inhabitant contends is right. 230 



26 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Virtuous and vicious ev'ry man must be. 
Few in th' extreme, but all in the degi'ee ; 
The rogTie and fool by fits is fair and wise ; 
And ev'n the best, by fits, what they despise. 
'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill ; 235 

For, vice or virtue, self directs it still : 
Each individual seeks a several goal ; 
But Heav'n's g-reat view is one, and that the whole ; 
That counter-works each folly and caprice ; 
That disappoints th' effect of ev'ry vice ; 240 

That, happy frailties to all ranks apply'd. 
Shame to the virgin, to the matron pride. 
Fear to the statesman, rashness to the chief. 
To kings presumption, and to crowds belief : 
That, virtue's ends from vanity can raise, 245 

Which seeks no int'rest, no reward but praise ; 
And build on wants, and on defects of mind, 
The joy, the peace, the glory of mankind, 
Heav'n forming each on other to depend, 
A master, or a servant, or a friend, 250 

Bids each on other for assistance call. 
Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all. 
Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally 
The common int'rest, or endear the tie. 
To these we own true friendship, love sincere, 255 

Each home felt joy that life inherits here ; 
Yet from the same we learn, in its decline, 
Those joys, those loves, those int'rests to resign : 
Taught half by reason, half by mere decay. 
To welcome death, and calmly pass away. 260 



EPISTLE II. 27 

Whate'er the passion, knowledg-e, fame, or pelf, 
Not one will change his neighbour with himself. 
The learn'd is happy, nature to explore. 
The fool is happy that he knows no more ; 
The rich is happy in the plenty giv'n, 265 

The poor contents him with the care of heav'n. 
See the blind beg-gar dance, the cripple sing". 
The sot a hero, lunatic a king- ; 
The starving chymist in his golden views 
Supremely blest, the poet in his muse. 270 

See some strange comfort, ev'ry state attend. 
And pride bestow'd on all, a common friend ; 
See some fit passion ev'ry age supply, 
Hope travels tlirough, nor quits us when we die. 

Behold the child, by nature's kindly law, 275 

Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw : 
Some liveher play thing gives his youth delight, 
A little louder, but as empty quite ; 
Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage ; 
And beads and pray'r-books are the toys of age ; 280 
Pleas'd with this bauble still, as that before ; 
'Till tir'd he sleep's, and life's poor play iso'er ! 

Meanwhile opinion gilds with varying rays 
Those painted clouds that beautify our days ; 
Each want of happiness by hope supply'd, 285 

And each vacuity of sense by pride : 
These build as fast as knowledge can destroy ', ' 
Tn folly's cup still laughs the bubble, joy ; 



28 ESSAY ON MAN. 

One prospect lost, another still we gain ; 

And not a vanity is giv'n in vain : 2!9Q 

Ev'n mean self-love becomes, by force divine. 

The scale to measure other's wants by thine. 

See ! and confess, one comfort still must rise ; 

'Tis this, Tho' man's a fool, yet God is wise.- 



EPISTLE III. 



OF THE KATtJnE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO 



THE ARGUMENT. 

The wliole universe one system of society, ver. 7, lirc. Nothing is made 
-ivhollyfor itself, nor yet rvholiyfor another, 27. The happiness of ant' 
mnls. mutual 53. Reawn or ins inct operate also to society in alt 
animals, log. Honvfar society is carried by instinct, 119« Hnw much 
farther by reason, 132. Of that 7vhich is calledthe state o/" nature, 148. 
Reason instructed by instinct ?n the invention of axis, 152, and in the 
forms of society, 180. Origin of political society, 199. Origin of mo- 
narchy, 211. Patriarchal Government, 216. On^m o/" true religion 
and government, from the same principle of love, 235, (trc. Origin 
of superstition and tyranny, y>W)» the. same principle of fear, 24 1, tyc. 
The influence o/" self-love operating to the social and public good, 269. 
Restoration oj true religion and government «n their first principle 
285. Mi xt government, 289. Various forms of each, and the true end 
of all, 363, ire. 

I. Heiie then we rest : " The Universal Cause 
*« Acts to one end, but acts by various laws." 
In all the madness of superfluous health. 
The trim of pride, the impudence of wealth ; 
Let this great truth be present night and ctay ; 5 

But most be present, if we preach or pray. 

Look round our world ; behold the chain of love. 
Combining all below and all above : 
See plastic nature working to tliis end. 
The single atoms each to other tend ; 10 

c 2 



30 ESSAY ON MAN, 

Attract, attracted to, the next in place 

Form'd and impell'd its neighbour to embrace. 

See matter next, with various hfe endu'd, 

Press to one centre still, the general good. 

See dying vegetables life sustain, 15 

See life dissolving, vegetate again ; 

All forms that perish, other fornis supply, 

(By turns we catch the vital brcatii, and die) 

Like bubbles on the sea of matter borne. 

They rise, they break, and to that sea return. 20 

Nothing is foreign — parts relate to whole ; 

One aU-extending, all-preserving soul 

Connects each being, greatest with the least; 

Made beast in aid of man, and man of beast ; 

All serv'd, all serving : nothing stands alone ; 25 

The chain holds on, and, where it ends, unknown, 

Has GOD, thou fool ! work'd solely for thy good. 
Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food? 
Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn, 
Forliim as kindly spreads the flowery lawn ; SO 

Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings ? 
Joy tunes his voice, and elevates liis wings. 
Is it for thee the hnnet pours his throat ? 
Loves of his own, and rapture swell the note. 
The bounding steed you pompously bestride, 35 

Shares with the lord the pleasure and the pride. 
Is thine alone the seed tliat strews the plain ? 
The birds of Heaven shall vindicate their gi-ain. 



EPISTLE III. 31 

Thine the full harvest, of the g-olden year ? 

Part pays, and justly, the deservhig- sU cv : 40 

The hog", that ploug-hs not, nor obeys Cny call, 

Lives on the labours lii' tliiS ioid Oi all 

Know, nature's children all divide her care; 
The fur that warms a monarch, warmM a bear, 
Wliile man exclaims, " See all tr.ing's for my use !" 45" 
" See man for mine !" replies a'pamper'd g-oose : 
And just as short of reason he must fall. 
Who thinks all made for one, not one for all. 

Grant that tlie powerful still the weak control, 
Be man the wit and tyrant of the whole : 50 

Natiu'e that tyrant cliecks — ^iie only knows. 
And lielps anotlier creature's wants and woes. 
Say, will the falcon, stooping- from above, 
Smit with her varying- plumag-e, spare the dove ? 
Admires the jay the insects g-ilded wings ? 55 

Or hears the hawk, \vhen Philomela sings ? 
Man cares for all : To birds he g-ives his woods, 
To beasts his pastures, and to fish his Hoods: — 
For some his interest prompts him to provide, 
For more his pleasure yet for more his pride : pO 

All feed on one vain patron and enjoy, 
Th' extensive blessing- of his luxury. 
That very life his learned hunger craves, 
He saves from famine, fiom the savage saves ; 
Nay, feasts the animal he dooms his feast, 65 

.\nd, till he ends tiie being, makes it blest ; 



32 ESSAY ON MAN.. 

Which sees no more the stroke, nor feels the pain. 
Than favour'd man, by touch ethereal slain. 
The creatm-e liad his feast of life before ; / 

Thou too must perish, when thy feast is o'er ! 7*0 

To each unthinking being-, heav'n' a friend. 
Gives not the useless knowledge of its end ; 
To man imparts it ; but witli such a view. 
As, while he dreads it, makes him hope it too ; 
The hour conceal'd, and so remote the fear, 76 

Death still draws nearer, never seeming near. 
Great standing miracle, that heav'n assiga'd 
Its only thinking thing this turn of mind. 

II. Whether with reason, or with instinct blest ; 
Know, all enjoy that power which s\iits them best : 80 
To bliss ahke by that direction tend. 
And find the means proportion'd to their end. 
Say, where full instinct is th' unerring guide. 
What pope or counsel can they need beside : 
Reason, however able, cool at best, 85 

Cares not for service, or but serves when prest ; 
Stays till we call, and then not often near ; 
But honest instinct comes a volunteer. 
Sure never to o'ershoot, but just to hit; 
While still too wide or short is hiunan wit ; 90 

Sure by quick nature happiness to gain. 
Which heavier reason labours at in vain, 
Th'S too serves always, reason never long; 
One must go right, the other may go wrong. 



EPISTLE III. 33 

See th^n the acting- and comparing- powers, 95 

One in their na^^urc, which are tw^o in ours ; 
And reason raise o'er Instinct as you can. 
In this, 'tis God directs, in that 'tis man. 

Who taught the nat'ons of the field and wood 
To slum tlieir poison, and to choose their food ? 100 
Prescient, the tides or tempests to withstand, 
B '^i on the wave, or arch beneath the sand ? 
"Who made the spider parallels desig-n. 
Sure as D'Moivre, without rule or line ? 
Who bid the stork, Columbus like, explore 105 

Heav'ns not his own, and worlds unknown before ? 
Who calls the council, states the certain day, 
W^ho forms the phalanx, and who points the way ? 

III. G;>i), in the nature of each being-, founds 
Its pro]>er bliss, and sets its proper bounds : 110 

But as he fram'd a whole, the whole to bless. 
On mutual wants built mutual happiness : 
So from the first, eternal order ran. 
And creature link'd to creature, man to man. 
Whate'er of life all quick'ning- xther keeps, 115 

Or breathes thro' air, or shoots beneath the deeps, 
Or poiu-s profuse on earth, one nature feeds 
The vital flame, and swells the g-enial seeds. 
Not man alone, but all that roam the w^ood, 
Or wing the sky, or roll along the flood, 120 

Each loves itself, but not itsolf alone. 
Each sex desires alike, till two are one. 



34 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Nor ends the pleasure with the fierce embrace ; 

They love themselves, a third time, in their race. 

Thus beast and bird their common charge attend, 125 

The mothers nurse it, and the sires defend ; 

The young dismiss'd to wander earth or air. 

There stops the instinct, and there ends the care ; 

The link dissoh-es, each seeks a fresh embrace, 

Another love succeeds, another race. 130 

A longer care man's helpless kind demands : 

That longer care contracts more lasting bands ; 

Reflection, reason, still the ties improve. 

At once extend the interest and the love : 

With choice we fix, with sympathy we burn : 135 

Each virtue in each passion takes its turn ; 

And still new needs, new helps, new habits rise. 

That graft benevolence on charities. 

Still as one brood, and as another rose 

These natural love maintain'd, habitual those ; 140 

The last, scarce ripen'd into perfect man. 

Saw helpless him from whom their life began : 

Memory and fore-cast, just returns engage. 

That pointed back to youth, this on to age : 

While pleasure, gi-atitude, and hope, combined 145 

Still spread the interest, and preserved the kind. 

IV. Nor think, in nature's state they blindly trod ; 
The state of nature was the reign of God ; 
Self-love and social at her birth began. 
Union the bond of all things, and of man. 150 



EPISTLE III. 35 



Pride then was not— nor arts, that pride to aid : 

Man walk'd with beast, joint tenant of the shade ; 

The same his table, and the same his bed : 

No murder cloth'd him, and no murder fed. 

In the same temple, the resounding wood, 155 

All vocal being's hymn'd their equal God ; 

The slii-ine with gore unstain'd, with gold undrest, 

Unbrib'd, unbloody, stood the blameless priest ; 

Heaven's attribute was universal care. 

And man's prerogative to rule, but spare. 160 

Ah ! how unlike the man of times to coipe ! 

Of half that hve, the butcher and the tomb ; 

Who, foe to nature, hears the general groan. 

Murders their species, and betrays his own. 

But just disease to luxury succeeds; 165 

And every death its own avenger breeds ; 

The fury passions from that blood began. 

And tiu-n'd on man a fiercer savage, man. 

See him from nature rising slow to art ! 
To copy instinct then was reason's part ; 170 

Tlius then to man the voice of nature spake, 
" Go, from the creatures thy instructions take 
Learji from the birds, what food the thickets yield ; 
Learn from the beasts, the physic of the field ; 
Thy arts of building, from the bee receive ; 175 

Learn of the mole to plow — the worm to weave ; 
Learn of the little nautilus, to sail. 
Spread the thin oar, and catch ^e driving gale. 



36 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Here too, all forms of social union find. 

And hence let reason, late instruct mankind 180 

Here, subterranean works and cities see ; 

There, towns serial on the waving- tree. 

Learn each small people's genius, policies. 

The art's repviblic, and the realm of bees ; 

How those in comreon all their wealth bestow, 185 

And anarchy without confusion knoxv ; 

And these foreverj though a monarch reign. 

Their separate cells and properties maintain. 

Mark what unvaried laws preserve each state, 

Laws wise as nature, and as fix'd as fate, 190 

In vain thy reason finer webs shall draw, 

Entangle justice in her net of law. 

And right, too rig'd, liarden into wrong; 

Still for the strong too weak, the weak too strong. 

Yet go ! and thus o'er all the creatures sway, 195 

Thus let the wiser make the rest obey : 

And for those arts mere instinct could afford, 

Be crown'd as monarchs, or as Gods ador'd." 

V. Great Nature spoke — observant man obey'd ; 
Cities were built — societies were made : 200 

Here rose one little state ; another near 
Grew by like means, and joined, thro' love or fear. 
D:d here the trees with ruddier burdens bend. 
And there the streams in purer rills descend ? 
Wi--3-t war coiild ravish, commerce could bestow, 205 
And he return'd a friend, who came a foe- 



EPISTLE III. S7 

Oonvei'se and love mankind might strongly draw. 

When love was liberty, and nature law. 

Thus states were form'd ; the name of king unknown, 

*Till common interest plac'd the sway in one. 210 

^Twas virtue only (or in arts or arms 

Diffusing blessings ; or averting harms) 

The same which in a sire the sons obeyed, 

A prince the father of a people made. 

VI. Till then, by nature crown'd, each patriarch 
sate, 215 

King, priest, and parent, of his growing state ; 
On him their second providence, they hung. 
Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue : 
He from the wond'ring fuiTOW call'd the food. 
Taught to command the fire, control tlie tiood, 2^ 
Draw forth the monsters of the abyss profound. 
Or fetch th' aerial eagle to the ground. 
Till drooping, sick'ning, dying, they began. 
Whom they rever'd as God to mourn as man : 
Then, looking up from sire to sire, explor*d 29tf 

One great First Father, and that fii-st ador'd. 
Or plain tradition that this all begun,' 
Convey'd unbroken faith from sire to son ; 
The worker from the work distinct was known. 
And simple reason never sought but one : 
E'er wit oblique had broke that steady Ught, 
Man, like his Maker, saw that all was right ; 
To virtue, in the paths of pleasure trod, 
Ind own'd a father when he own'd a God, 
D 



38 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Love, all the faith, and all the allegiance, then : 23o^ 

For nature knew no rig-ht divine in men — 

No ill could fear in God ; and understood 

A sovereign being, but a sovereign good, 

Tn'.e laith, ti-ue policy, united ran ; 

That was but love of God, and this of man. 240 

Who first taught souls enslav'd, and realms undone, 
Th* enormous faith of many made for one ; 
That proud exception to all natiu-e's laws, 
T' I'M ert the world, and counterwork its cause ? 
Force first made conquest, and that conquest, law, 245 
^Till superstition taught the tyrant awe. 
Then shar'd the tyranny, then lent it aid. 
And gods of conquerors, slaves of subjects made. 
She, *midst the lightning's blaze, and thunder's sound* 
When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the 
ground, 250 

She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray. 
To power unseen, and mightier far than they : 
She, from the rending earth, and bursting skies, 
Saw Gods descend, and fiends infemal rise : 
Here fix'd the dreadful, there the blest abodes : 255 
Fear miade her devils, and weak hope her gods ; 
Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust ; 
Whose attributes were rage, revenge, or lust ; 
Such as the souls of cowards might conceive. 
And, form'd like tyrants, tjrants would beheve. 260 



EPISTLE III. 39 

Zeal, then, not charity, became the guide, 
And hell was built on spite, and heaven on pride. 
Then sacred seem'd the ethereal vault no more ; 
Altars grew marble then, and reck'd with gore : 
Then first the fiamen tasted hving food, 265 

Next his grim idol smear'd with human blood. 
With heaven's own thunder shook the world below. 
And play'd the god an engine on his foe. 

So drives self love, thro' just and tluV unjust. 
To one man's power ambition, lucre, lust : 270 

The same self-love, in all, becomes the cause 
Of what restrains him, government and laws. 
For, what one likes if others like as well. 
What serves one will, when other wills rebel I 
How shall he keep, what, sleeping or awake, 275 

A weaker may surprise, a stronger take ? 
His safety must his hberty restrain : 
Ail join to guard what each desires to gain. 
Forc'd into virtue thus by self-defence. 
E'en kings learn'd justice and benevolence ; 280 

Self-love forsook the path it first pm'su'd. 
And found the private in the pub he good. 

'Twas then the studious head or generous mind, 
Follower of God, or friend of human kind. 
Poet or patriot rose but to restore 285 

The faith and morals nature gave before ; 



40 ESSAY ON HAN. 

Ee-lum'd her ancient light, not kindled new , 
If not God's image, yet his shadow drew : 
Taught power's due use to people and to kings , 
Taught not to slack, nor strain its tender strings, llDQ 
The less or gi-eater set so justly true, 
That touching one, noust strike the other too ; 
'Till jarring interests of themselves create 
Th' according music of a well mix'd state. 
Such is the world's great harmony, that springs 295 
Prom order, union, full consent of things : 
"Where small and great, where weak and mighty made 
To serve, not suffer — strengthen, not invade ; 
More powerful each, as needful to the rest. 
And, in proportion as it blesses, blest ; ^00 

Draw to one point, and to one centre bring 
Beast, man, or angel, servant, lord or king. 

For forms of government, let fools contest ; 
Wliate'er is best administer'd is best : 
For modes of faith, let graceless zealots fight ; 305 

His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right. 
In faith and hope the world will disagree. 
But all mankind's concern is ciiAniTv. 
All must be false thtit thwart this first great end ; 
And all of God, that bless mankind, or mend. 310 

Man, like the generous vine, supported, lives : 
The strength he gains, is from th' embrace he gives. 



EPISTLE III. 41 

On their own axis as the planets run, 

Yet make at once theu' circle round the sun; 

So two consistent motions act tlie soul ; 315 

And one regards itself, and one the whole. 

Thus God and nature Hnk'd the general frame. 
And bade selt-love and social be the same. 



EPISTLE IV. 

OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH BE6PECX TO 
HAPPINESS. 

THE ARGUMENT. 

Happiness ill defined b'/ (he philosopJier, ver. 19. That it is the end of all 
men, and attainable by (dl^2S. God governs by genei-al not particular 
laws ; intends hapjiiness to be equal; and to be so it must be social, since 
fill particular happiness depends on general 35. As it is necessary for 
6rda- a7id the peace and welfare of society, that external goods should 
be unequal, happiness is not made to consist in tliese. 47. But, notwith- 
standing that iveqiiality, the balance of happiness among mankind is 
Iceptcven bi; providence, by the tn>o passions of hope and fe&i; 66.—, 
What the hnpldness of individuals is, as far as is consistent ivith 
the constitution of this world: and tliat the good man has hey 
the advantage, 76. The error of imputing to virtue what are only 
the calamities of nature or of fortune, 92 . The folly of expecting God 
should alter his general Imvs in favor ofiuirticidars. 118. That tve are 
7iot judges who are good : but that, whoever they are. tliey must be hap' 
piest, 130, &c. That external goods ai-e not thepropei- ravards but of- 
ten inconsistent 7vith,or destructive of virtue, 1C6. That even tlicse can 
make no man happy without virtue: instanced in riches, 176. Honors 
184. Birth, 203. Greatness, 213. Fame, 233. Superior talents, 257. 
With tiictures of human infelicity in men pnssest of them all, 27 5. tire- 
That virtue only constitiUes a happiness^ whose object is un) versal, onrf 
whose prospect eternal, 304, <&r. That the pcrfectitn of virtue and hap^ 
piness consists in a conformity to the order of' providence here, andate^ 
SignatiQn to it here and hereof ur, 326. <b'c. 



EPISTLE IV. ' 4& 



Oil happiness ! ourheing's end and aim ! 
Good, pleasure, ease, content ! whate'er thy name ; 
That something" still which prompts the eternal sigh, 
For which we bear to live, or dare to die ; 
AVhich still so near us, yet beyond us lies, 5 

0'er-look'd,seen double, by the fool and wise. 
Plant of celestial seed ! if drop'd below, 
Say, in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow ? 
Fair opening to some court's propitious shine, 
Or deep with diamonds in the flaming mine ? 10 

Twin'd with the wreaths Parnassian laurels yield. 
Or reap'd in iron harvests of the field ? 
Where grows ? — Where grows it not ? — If vain our toil, 
We ought to blame the culture not the soil ; 
Fix'd to no spot is happiness sincere, 15 

-'Tis no where to be found, or every where. 
'Tis never to be bought, but always free. 
And, fled from monarchs, St. John, dwells witli thee. 

Ask of the leam'd the way, the leam'd are blind ; 
This bids to serve and that to shun mankind. 20 

Some place the bliss in action, some in ease : 
Those call it pleasure, and contentment these ; 
Some, sunk to beasts, find pleasure end in pain : 
Some, swell'd to gods, confess e'en virtue vain ; 
Or indolent, to each extreme they fall, 25 

To trust in every thing, or doubt of all. 



44 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Who thus define it, say they moi e or less 
Than this, that happiness is happiness P 

Take nature's path, and mad opinions leave ; 
All states can reach it, and all heads conceive, 30 

Obvious her goods, in no extreme they dwell ; 
There needs but thinking right, and meaning well ; 
And mourn our various portions as we please. 
Equal is common sense, and common ease. 

Remember, man, « The Universal Cause 35 

" Acts not by partial, but by general laws :" 
And makes what happiness we justly call 
Subsist, not in the good of one, but all. 

There's not a blessing individuals find. 
But some way leans and hearkens to the kind ; 40 

No bandit fierce, no tyrant mad with pride, 
No cavern'd hermit rests self-satisfied. 
AVho most to shun or hate mankind pretend, 
Seek an admirer, or would fix a friend. 
Abstract what others feel, what others think, 4fS 

All pleasure sicken, and all glories sink : 
Each has his share, and who would more obtain. 
Shall find the pleasure pays not half the pain. 

Order is Heaven's first law ; and this confest, 
Some are, and must be, greater than the rest 50 

More rich, more wise — but who infers from hence 
That such are happier, shocks all common sense. 



EPISTLE IV. 



45 



Heaven to mankind's impartial we confess, 

If all are equal in their happiness ; 

But mutual wants this happiness increase ; ' 55 

AU nature's difference keeps aU nature's peacev 

Condition, circumstance, is not the thing : 

Bhss is the same in subject or in king : 

In who obtain defence or who defend ; 

In him who is, or him who finds a friend. ^ 

Heaven breathes thi'o' every member of the whole, 

One common blessing, as one common soul. 

But fortune's gifts, if each alike possest. 

And each were equal, must not all contest ? 

If then to all men happiness was meant 65 

God in externals could not place content. 

Fortune her gifts may variously dispose, 
And these be happy call'd, unhappy those ; 
But Heaven's just balance equal will appear. 
Whilst those are plac'd in hope, and these in fear : 70 
Not present good or ill, the joy or curse, 
But future views of better, or of worse. 

Oh sons of earth ! attempt ye still to rise. 
By mountains pil'd on mountains, to the skies ? 
Heaven still witli laughter the vain toil surveys, 75- 
And buries madmen in the heaps they raise. 

Know, all the good that individuals find. 
Or God and nature meant to mere mankind, 



46 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, 

Lie in three words, health, peace, and competence : 

But health consists with temperance alone ; 81 

And peace. Oh virtue ! peace is all thy own. 

The good or bad the gifts of fortune gain. 

But these less taste them, as they worse obt^n. 

Say, in pursuit of profit or dehght, 85 

Who risk the most, that take wrong means or right ? 

Of vice or virtue, whether blest or curst. 

Which meets contempt, or which compassion, first ? 

Count all th' advantage prosperous vice attains, 

'Tis but what virtue flies from, and disdains ; 90 

And grant the bad what happiness they would. 

One they must want, which is, to pass for good. 

Oh blind to truth, and God's whole scheme below, 

Who fancy bliss to vice, to virtue woe ! 

Who sees and follows that great scheme the best, 95 

Best knows the blessing, and will most be blest. 

But fools, the good alone unhappy call. 

For ills or accidents that chance to all. 

See Falkland dies, the virtuous and the just ! 

See god-like Turenne prostrate on the dust ! 100 

See Sidney bleeds amid the martial strife ! 

Was this their virtue or contempt of life ? 

Say, was it virtue, more tho' heaven ne'er gave ? 

Larfiented Digby ! sunk thee to the grave ? 

Tell me, if virtue made the son expire, 10^ 

Why, full of days and honour, lives the sire ? 

Why drew Marseilles' good bishop purer breath. 

When nature sicken'd, and each ^ale was death i 



EPISTLE IV. 4f 

Or why so long (in life if long can be) 

Lent heaven a parent to the poor and me ? HO 

What makes all physical or moral ill ? 
there deviates nature, and here wanders wiD. 
God sends not ill ; if riglitly understood. 
Or partial ill is universal good. 

Or change admits, or natiu'e lets it fall ; 115 

Short, and but rare, *till man improv'd it all. 
We just as wisely might of heaven complain. 
That righteous Abel was destroy'd by Cain, 
As that the virtuous son is ill at ease. 
When his lewd father gave the dire disease. 120 

Think we, like some weak prince, th' eternal cause. 
Prone for his fav'rites to reverse his laws ? 

Shall burning ^tna, if a sage requires. 
Forget to thunder, and recal her fires ? 
On air or sea new motions be imprest, 125 

Oh blameless Bethel ! to relieve thy breast i" 
When the loose mountain trembles from on high. 
Shall gravitation cease, if you goby? 
Or some old temple nodding to its fall, 
For Chartres' head reserve the hanging wall ? 136 

But still this world (so fitted for the knave) 
Contents us not. A better shall we have ? 
A kingdom of the just \h:: n let it be : 
But first consider how those just agree. 



•48 ESSAY ON MAN. 

The good must merit God's peculiar care ; 135 

But who, but God, can tell us who they are ? 

One thinks on Calvin, Heaven's own spirit fell : 

Another deems him instrument of hell : 

If Calvin feels heaven's blessing or its rod, 

This cries there is, and that, there is no God. 14.0 

What shocks one part will edify the rest. 

Nor with one system can they all be blest. 

The very best will variously incline. 

And what rewards your virtue, pmiish mine. 

"Whatever is, is right." — Tliis world, 'tis true, 145 

Was made for Ccesar — but for Titus too ; 

And which more blest? who chain'd his country, say; 

Or he whose virtue sigh'd to lose a day ? 

" But sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed," 
What then ? Is the reward of virtue bread ? 150 

That, vice may merit, 'tis the price of toil ; 
The knave deserves it, wlien he tills the soil : 
The knave deserves it, when he tempts the main. 
Where folly fights for kings, or dives for gain. 
The good man may be weak, be indolent ; 155 

Nor is his claim to plenty, but content. 
But gi'ant him riches, your demand is o'er ! 
« No — shall the good want health, the good want pow'rr' 
Add health, and pow'r, and every eai-thly thing', 
« Why bounded pow'r ? why private ? why no king ? 
**Nay, why external for internal given ? 16t 

*^ Why is not man a God, and earth a heaven ?'* 



EPISTLE IV. 49 

AVho ask and reason thus, will scarce conceive 
God gives enough, while he has more to give ; 
Immense the power, immense were the demand ; 165 
Say, at what part of nature will they stand ? 

What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy, 
The souPs calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy. 
Is virtue's prize : a better would you fix ? 
Then g^ve humility a coach and six ; 170 

Justice, a conqueror's sword — or truth, a gown — 
Or public spirit its great cure, a crown. 
Weak, foolish man ! will heaven reward us there 
With the same trash mad mortals wish for here ? 
The boy and man an individual makes, 175 

Yetsigh'st thou now for apples and for cakes ! 
Go, like the Indian, in another life 
Expect thy dog, thy bottle, and thy wife. 
As well as dream such trifles are assign'd. 
As toys and empires, for a god-hke mind ; 180 

Rewards that either would to virtue bring 
No joy, or be destructive of the thing ; 
How oft by these, at sixty, are undone 
The virtues of a saint at twenty-one ! 
To whom can riches give repute, or trust, 185 

Content, or pleasure, but the good or just ^ 
Judges and senates have been bought for gold, 
Esteem and love were never to be sold. 
Oh fool ! to think God hates the worthy mind, 
The lover, and tlie love of human kind, 190 



^0 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Whose life is healthful, and whose conscience clear, 
Because he wants a thousand pound a year. 



Honour and shame from no condition rise : ^^x 

Act well your part, there all the honour lies. 

Fortune in men has some small difference made 195 

One flaunts in rags one flutters in brocade : 

The cobbler apron'd, and the parson g-own'd. 

The friar hooded, and the monarch crown'd. 

" What differ more (you cry) than crown and cowl ?" 

I'll tell you, friend, a wise man and a fool, 20fl 

You'll find, if once the monarch acts the monk. 

Or, cobbler like, the parson will be drunk, 

Wortfi makes the man, and want of it the fellow ; 

The rest is all but leather, or prunello. 

Stuck o'er with titles, and hung- round with strings, 205 

That tliou may'st be by kings, or whores of kings : 

Boast the pure blood of ar. illust'roiis race. 

In quiet flow from Lucrece to Lucrece : 

But by your father's worth, if your 's you rate, 

Count me those only who are good and great. 210 

Go ! if your ancient, but ignoble blood. 

Has crept tlu'ough scoundrels ever since the flood. 

Go ! and pretend your family is young, 

Nor own your fathers have been fools so long. 

What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards ! 215 

Alas ! not all the blood of all the Howards. 

Look next on greatness ! say where greatness lies, 
^' Where, but among the heroes and the wise i"* 



EPISTLE IV. 51 

Heroes are much the same, the point's agreed, 

From Macedonia's madman to the Swede : 220 

The whole strange purpose of their lives to find. 

Or make an enemy of all mankind ! 

Not one looks backward, onward still he goes, 

Yet ne'er looks forward farther than his nose ! 

No less alike the politic and wise ; 225 

All sly, slow things, with circumspective eyes ;■ 

Men in their loose unguarded hours they take, 

Not that themselves are wise, but others weak. 

But grant that those can conquer, these can cheat; 

'Tis phrase absurd to call a villain great. 230 

Who wickedly is wise, or madly brave, 

Is but the more a fool the more a knave. 

Who noble ends by noble means obtains. 

Or, failing, smiles in exile or in chains : 

Like good Aurelins let him reign or bleed 235 

Like Socrates, that man is great mdeed. 

What's Fame ? — A fancied hfe in other's breath, 
A thing beyond us, e'en before our death. 
Just what you hear, you have ; and what's unknown, 
The same (my lord) if Tully's or your own. 240 

All that we feel of it, begins and ends 
In the small circle of our foes or friends ; 
To all beside, as much an empty shade. 
An Eugene hving, as a Caesar dead ; 
Alike or when, or where, they shone, or shine, 245 
Or on the Rubicon, or on the Rhine. 



52 ESSAY ON MAN. 

A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod : 

An honest man's the noblest work of God, . 

Fame but from death a villain's name can save, \ 

As justice tears his body from the grave ; 250 

When what t' obUvion better were resign'd, 

Is hung on liigh to poison half mankind. 

All fame is foreign but of true desert, 

Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart » 

One self-approvbig hour, whole years outweighs 255 

Of stupid starers, and of loud huzzas ; 

And more true joy Marcellus exil'd feels, 

Than Cxsar with a senate at his heels. 

In parts superior, what advantage lies .' 
Tell (for you can) what is it to be wise ? 260 

'Tis but to know how little can be knT)wn ; 
To see all other's faults, and feel om* own : 
Condemn'd in business or in arts to drudge. 
Without a second, or without a judge ; 
Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land ? 265 
All fear, none aid you, and few understand. 
Painful pre-eminence ! yourself to view 
Above life's weakness, and its comforts too. 

Bring then these blessings to a strict account ; 
Make fair deductions ; see to what they 'mount. 270 
How much of other each is sure to cost ; 
How each for other oft is wholly lost ; 
How inconsistent greater goods, with these : 
How sometimes life is risk'd, and always ease; 



EPISTLE IV. 53 

I'liink, and if still the thing's thy envy call, 275 

Sav, vvouldst thou be the man to whom they fall ? 
To sigh for ribbons, if thou art so silly, 
Mark how they grace Lord Umbra, or Sir Billy. 
Is yellow dirt the passion of thy life ? 
Look but on Gripus, or on Gripus' wife ; 280 

If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shin*d: 
The wisest, brig-htest, meanest of mankind : 
Or ravish'd with the whisthng- of a name. 
See Cromwell damn'd to everlasting- fame ; 
If all, united, thy ambition call, 285 

From ancient story learn to scorn them all. 
There, in the rich, the honor'd, fam'd, and great, 
See the fiilse scale of happiness complete ! 
In heart's of kings, or arms of queens, who lay. 
How happy those to ruin, these betray ! 290 

Mark by what wretched steps their g"lory grows. 
From dirt and sea-weed, as proud Venice rose ; 
In each, how g-uilt and greatness equal ran. 
And all that rais'd the hero sunk the man. 
Now Europe's laurels on their brows behold, 295 

But stain'd with blood, or ill exchang'd for g-old : 
Then see them broke with toils, or sunk in ease, 
Or infamous for plundered provinces. 
Oh wealth ill-fated ! which no act of fame 
E'er taug'ht to sliine, or sanctified from shame. 300 

What greater bl"ss attends their close of life i' 
Some greedy mmion, or imperious wife, 
The trophy 'd arches, story 'd halls invade. 
And haunt their slumbers in the pompous shade. 
s2 



'^4 ESSAY ON MAN. 

Alas ! not dazzled with theii- noon-tide ray, 306 

Compute the morn and evening to tlie daj' ; 

The whole amount of that enormous fame, 

-\ tale, that blends their glory with their shame ! 

Know then this truth, (enoug'h for man to know) 
^' Virtue alone is happiness below." 310 

The only point where human bliss stands still, 
And tastes the good without the fall to ill : 
Where only merit constant pay receives, 
Is blest in what it takes and what it gives ; 
I'he joy unequall'd, if its end it gain, 315 

And if it lose, attended with no pain : 
AVithout satiety, though e'er so blest, 
And but more relish'd as the more distrest ; 
The broadest mirth unfeeling folly wears, 
I^e^s pleasing far than virtue's very tears : 320 

Good from each object, from each place acquir'd, 
Forever exercised, yet never tir'd ; 
Never elated, while one man's opprest. 
Never dejected, while another's blest ; 
And where no wants, no wishes can remain, 325 

Since but to wish more virtue, is to gain. 

See the sole bliss heav'n could on all bestow ! 
Which who but feels can taste, but thinks can know. 
Yet poor with fortune, and with learning blind. 
The bad must miss ; the good, untaught, will find ; 330 
Slave to no sect, who takes no private road. 
But looks through nature, up to natm-e's God : 



EPISTLE IV, 55 

Pursues that chain which links th' immense design, 

Joins heav'n and earth, and mortal and divine ; 

Sees, that no being" any bUss can know, 335 

But touches some above, and some below ; 

Learns, from this union of tlie rising- whole. 

The first, lavst purpose of the human soul: 

And knows where faith, law, morals, all began. 

All end, in love of God, and love of man. 340 

For him alone, hope leads from goal to goal. 
And opens still, and opens on his soul ; 
Till lengthen'd on to faith, and unconfin'd, 
It pours tlie bhss that fills up all the mind. 
He sees, why nature plants in man alone 345 

Hope of known bliss, and faith in bliss unknown : 
(Nature whose dictates to no other kind. 
Are given in vain, but \\'hat they seek they find) 
Wise is her present ; she connects in this 
His greatest virtue, with his gTeatest bliss ; 350 

At once his own bright prospect to be blest. 
And strongest motive to assist the rest. 
Self-love thus push'd to social, to divine. 
Gives thee to make thy neighbour's blessing thine. 
Is this too little for the boundless heart ? 355 

Extend it — ^let thy enemies have part : 
Grasp the whole worlds of reason, life, and sense. 
In one close system of benevolence : 
Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree. 
And height of bliss, but height of charity. 560 



56 ESSAY ON MAN. 

God loves from whole to parts : but human soul 
Must rise from individual to the whole. 
Self-love but serves the virtuous mind to wake, 
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake ; 
The centre mov'd, a circle strait succeeds, 365 

Another still, and still another spreads ; 
Friend, parent, neig-bbour, first it will embrace ; 
His country next — and next all human race : 
Wide and more Avide, th' o'erflowing-s of the mind 
Take every creature in, of every kind : 370 

Earth smiles around, with boundless bounty blest. 
And heaven beholds its image in his breast. 

Come then, my friend! my genius ! come along"; 
Oh master of the poet, and the song ! 
And wliile the muse now stoops or now ascends, 37*- 
To man's low passions, or their glorious ends. 
Teach me, like thee, in various nature wise, 
To fall with dignity, with temper rise ; 
Form'd by thy converse, happily to steer 
From grave to gay ; from Hveiy to severe ; 380 

Correct with spirit, eloquent with ease. 
Intent to reason, or polite to please. 
Oh ! while along the stream of time, thy name 
Expanded flies, and gathers all its fame ; 
Say, shall my little bark attendant sail, 385 

Pursue the triumph and partake the gale ? 
When statesmen, heroes, kings, in dust repose. 
Whose sons shall blush their fathers were thy foes : 



EPISTLE IV. 57 

Shall then this verse to futui*e age pretend 

Thou wert my g^de, philosopher, and friend ? 390 

That urg^d by thee, I turn'd the tuneful art 

From sounds to things, from fancy to the heart: 

For wit's false mirror held up nature's light ; 

Show'd emng pride, whatever is, is right : 

That reason, passion, answer one great aim ; 39o 

That true self-love and social are the same : 

That virtue only makes our bhss below. 

And all our knowledge is, ourseltes t9 kno^v. 



THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER, 

DEO OPTIMO MAXIMO. 

Father of all ! in every age, 

In ev'ry clime ador'd, 
By saint by savage, and by sage, 

Jehovah, Jove, or Lord ! 

Thou great First Cause, least understood. 

Who all my sense confin'd 
To know but this, that Thou art God, 

And that myself am blind : 

Yet gave me, in this dark estate. 

To see the good from ill ; 
And binding nature fast in fate. 

Left free the human will. 

"What conscience dictates to be done, 

Or warns me not to do : 
This, teach me more than hell to shun, 

That, more than heaven pursue. 

What blessings thy free bounty gives. 

Let me not cast away ; 
For God is paid, when man receives — 

T' enjoy, \s to obey. 

Yet not to earth's contracted span 

Thy goodness let me bound ; 
Or think Thee Lord alone of man. 

When thousand worlds ai'e round : 



UNIVERSAL PRAYER. 

Let not tliis weak, unknowing hand. 

Presume thy bolts to thrOw, 
And deal damnation round the land, 

On each I judge thy foe. 

If I am right, oh ! teach my heart 

Still in the right to stay ! 
If I am wrong, thy grace impart, 

To find that better way. 

Save me alike from foolish pride, 

Or impious discontent, 
At aught thy wisdom has deny'd, 

Or aught thy goodness lent. 

Teach me to feel another's woe. 

To hide the fault I see ; 
That mercy I to othei-s show, 

That mercy show to me. 

Mean though I am, not wholly so, 

Since quicken'd by thy breath ; 
Oh ! lead me wheresoe'er I go^ 

Through this day's life or death. 

This day be bread and peace my lot : 

All else beneath the sun, 
Thou know'st if best bestow'd or not ; 

And let thy will be done. 

To Thee, whose temple is all space. 

Whose altar, eai-th, sea, skies ! 
One choi-us let all beings raise ! 

All nature's incense rise ! ' aheit. 



MESSIAH. 

A SACRED EGLOGUE. 

¥e Nymphs of Soljnna ! begin the song : 

To heav'nly themes sublimer strains belong" ; 
The mossy fountains, and the sylvan shades, 
The dreams of Pindus, and th' Aonian miuds, 
Delight no more. — O Thou, my voice inspire. 
Who touch*d Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire ! 

Rapt into futiu-e times, the bard begun ; 
A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son f 
From Jesse's root behold a branch arise. 
Whose sacred flow'r with fragrance fills the skies 
Th' JEthereal Spirit o'er its leaves shall move. 
And on its top descends the mystic dove. 
Ye heav'ns ! from high the dewy nectar pour, 
And in soft silence shed the kindly show'r ! 
The sick and weak the heahng plant shall aid. 
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade. 
All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail. 
Returning justice hft alone her scale ; 
Peace o'er the world her olive wand exteiid. 
And white rob'd Innocence from heav'n descend. 
Swift fly the years, and rise the expected morn ; 
Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born ! 
See Nature hastes, her earliest wreathes to bring, 
With all the incense of the breathing spring ; 



jMESSIAH. 

See lofty Lebanon his head advance, 
See nodding- forests on the mountains dancfe. 
See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise, 
And Carmel's flow'ry top perfumes the skies ! 
Hark ! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers ; 
Prepare the way ! a God, a God appears : 
A God, a God ! the vocal hills reply, 
The rocks proclaim th* approaching- Deity. 
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies ! 
Sink down ye mountains, and, ye vallies, rise ! 
With heads decHn'd, ye cedars, homage pay : 
Be smooth, ye rocks ; ye rapid floods give way ! 
The Saviom' comes ! by ancient bards foretold i 
Hear him, ye deaf! and, all ye blind, behold ! 
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, 
And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day ; 
'Tis he th' obstructed paths of sound shall clear^ 
And bid new music charm th* unfolding ear : 
The dumb shall sing, the lame hi» crutch forego. 
And leap exulting like the bounding roe. 
No sigh, no murmur, tlie wide world shall hear ; 
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear. 
In adamantine chains shall De-ath be bound. 
And hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound. 
As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care. 
Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air, 
Explores the lost, the wand'ring sheep directs. 
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects : 
The tender lambs he raises in his arms, 
Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms ; 
F 



62 MESSIAH. 

Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage, 

The promis'd father of the future age. 

No more shall nation against nation rise, 

Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes, 

Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er. 

The brazen ti'umpets kindle rage no more ; 

But useless lances into scythes shall bend, 

.\nd the broad falchion in a ploughshare end. 

Then palaces shall rise : the joyful son 

Shall finish what his short-Uv'd sire begun : 

Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield, 

And the same hand that sow'd, shall reap the field,. 

The swain in barren deserts with surprise 

Sees hlies spring-, and sudden verdure rise ; 

And starts, amidst the tliirsty wilds to hear 

New falls of water murm'ringin his ear. 

On rifted rockS; the di*agon's late abodes. 

The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods : 

Waste sandy vallies, once perplex'd with thorn. 

The spiry fir and shapely box adorn : 

To leafless shrubs the flow 'ring palms succeed, 

And od'rous myrtle to the noisome weed. 

The lamb with wolves shall graze the verdant mead 

And boys, in flow'ry bands the tyger lead ; 

The steer and Uon at one crib shall meet. 

And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet : 

The smiling infant in his hand shall take 

The crested basilisk and speckled snake, 

Pleas'd the green lustre of the scales survey. 

And with their forky tongue shall innocently play. 



MESSIAH. 63 

Itise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise ? 

Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes ! 

See, a long race thy spacious courts adorn ; 

See future sons, and daughters yet unborn. 

In crowding ranks on ev'ry side arise, 

Demanding Ufe, impatient for the skies ! 

See barb'rous nations at thy gates attend. 

Walk in thy Hght, and in thy temple bend : 

See thy bright altars throng'd with postrate kings. 

And heap'd with products of Sabaean springs ! 

For thee Idume's spicy forests blow, 

And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow. 

See heav'n its sparkling portals wide display, 
And break upon thee in a flood of day. 
No more the rising sun shall gild the morn. 
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her silver horn : 
But lost, dissolv'd in thy superior rays. 
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze 
O'erflow thy courts : the hght lumself shall shine 
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be tlune ! 
The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay, 
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away ; 
But fix'd his word, his saving pow'r remains ; 
Xhy realm forever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns ! 



ODE ON SOLITUDE. 

WRITTEN BY OUR AUTHOR, AT ABOUT TWELVE YEARS OLlK 

Happy the man, whose wish and care 

A few paternal acres bound ; 
Content to breathe his native air. 
In his own ground. 

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bregU«. 

Whose flocks supply him with attire ; 
Whose trees in summer yield him shade, 
In winter fire. 

Bless'd who can unconcernedly find 

Hours, days, and years, slide soft away : 
]j\ health of body, peace of mind. 
Quiet by day. 

Sound sleep by night, study and ease. 

Together mix*d ; sweet recreation 
And innocence, which most does please • 
With meditation. 

Thus let me hve, unseen, unknown, 

Thus unlamented let me die : 
Steal from the world and not a stone 
Tell where I Ue. 



ELEGY 

TO THE MEMOHT OF AN tJJSFORTUNATE LADT. 

What beck'ning ghost, along the moonlight shad<. 
Invites my step, and points to yonder glade ? 
'Tis she ! — but why that bleeding bosom gor'd ? 
Why dimly gleams the visionary sword ? 
Oh ever beauteous, ever friendly ! tell. 
Is it in heav'n a crime to love too well ? 
To bear too tender, or too firm a heart, 
To act a lover's or a Roman's part ? 
Is there no bright reversion in the sky 
For those who gi'eatly think, or bravely die ? 

Why bade ye else, ye pow'rs ! her soul aspire 
Above the vulgar flight of low desire ? 
Ambition first sprung from your blest abodes : 
The glorious fault of angels and of gods ! 
Thence to their images on earth it flows, 
And in the breasts of kings and heroes glows. 
Most souls, 'tis true, but peep out once an age, 
Didl sullen pris'ners in the body's cage ; 
Dim hgbts of life, that burn a length of years. 
Useless, vmseen, as lamjis in sepulchres ; 
Like eastern kings, a lazy state they keep, 
And close confin'd in their own palace, sleep. 

From these perhaps (ere nature bade her die) 
Fate snatch'd her early to the pitying sky. 

f2 



66 ELEGY. 

As into air the purer spirits flow. 
And separate from their kindred dreg's below ; 
So flew the soul to its congenial place. 
Nor left one virtue to redeem her race. 

But thou, false guardian of a charge too good. 
Thou, mean deserter of thy brother's blood ! 
See on those ruby lips the trembhng breath. 
These cheeks now fading at the blast of death : 
Cold is that breast which warm'd the world before. 
And those love-darting eyes must roll no more. 
Thus, if eternal justice rules the ball, 
Thus shall your wives, and thus your children fall : 
On all the line a sudden vengeance waits. 
And frequent hearses shall besiege yoiu* gates : 
There passengers shall stand, and pointing say, 
(While the long fun'rals blacken all the way) 
Lo ! these were they, whose souls the furies steel'd, 
And curs'd wijth hearts unknowing how to yield, 
Thus unlamented pass the proud away. 
The gaze of fools and pageant of a day ! 
So perish all, whose breast ne'er learn'd to glow 
For others good, to melt at others woe. 

What can atone, (oh ever-injur'd shade !) 
Thy fate unpitied, and thy rites unpaid ? 
No friend's complaint, no kind domestic tear, 
Pleas'd thy pale ghost, or grac'd thy moui-nful bier ; 
By foreign hands thy dying eyes were clos'd, 
By foreign hands thy decent limbs compoB'd, 



ELEGY. 67 

By foreign hands thy humble grave adom'd, 
By strangers honor'd, and by strangers mourn'd ! 
What though no friends in sable weeds appear, 
Grieve for an hour, perhaps that mourn a year ; 
And bear about the mockery of woe 
To midnight dances and the public show ? 
What tho' no weeping loves thy ashes grace. 
Nor pollsh'd marble emulate thy face ? 
What tho' no sacred earth allow thee room. 
Nor hallovv'd dirge be mutter'd o'er thy tomb ? 
Yet shall thy grave with rising flow'rs be drest, 
And tile green turf lie lightly on thy breast : 
There shall the morn her earliest tears bestow, 
There the first roses of the year shall blow ; 
While angels with their silver wings o'ershade 
The gi'ound, now sacred by thy reliques made. 

So peaceful rests, without a stone, a name, 
That once had beauty, titles, wealth, and fam'e. 
How lov'd, how hqnor'd once, avails thee no%. 
To whom related, or by whom begot: 
A heap of dust alone remains of thee ; 
*Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be ! 

Poets themselves must fall, Hke those tliey sung 
Deaf the prais'd ear, and mute the tuneful tongue. 
Ev'n he, whose soul now melts in mournful lays. 
Shall shortly want the gen'rous tear he pays ; 
Then from Ms closing eyes thy form shall part, 
And the last pang shall t-ear thee from his hejti't 



68 AN ODE, 

Life's idle business at one g'asp be o'er. 
The muse forgot, and thou be lov'd no more. 



THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL, 

.aJV ODE. 
Vital spark of heavenly flame ? 
Quit, oh, quit, this mortal frame ! 
I'rembling-, hoping-, ling'ring', flying*. 
Oh the pain, the bliss of dying- ! 
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife. 
And let me lang-uish into life ! 

Hark ! they v/hisper ; angels say. 

Sister spirit, come away ! 

What is this absorbs me quite f 

Steals my senses, shuts my sight ? 
Drowns my spir-its, draws my breath ' 
Tell me, my sovil, can this be death ^ 

The world recedes j it disappears ! 
Heav'n opens on my eyes ! my ears 

AVith sounds seraphic ring ! 
Lend, lend your wings ! I mount ! I fly ' 
O Cffave ! where is thy victory ? 

O Death ! where is thy sting '' 



MORAL ESSAYS. 

EPISTLE V. 

TO 

MR. ADDISOJ^. 

OCCASIONED BT HIS DIALOGUE ON MEDALS. 

See the wild Waste of all-devouring years ! 
How Rome her own sad sepulchre appears. 
With nodding" arches, broken temples spread ! 
The very tombs now vanish'd like their dead ! 
Imperial v/onders rais'd on Nations spoii'd, 5 

Where mix'd with Slaves the gi'oairing Martyr toil'd : 
Huge Theatres, that now unpeopled Woods, 
Now drain'd a distant country of her Floods : 
Fanes, which admiring Gods with pride survey, 
Statues of Men, scarce less alive than they ! 10 

Some felt the silent stroke of mouldering age. 
Some hostile fury, some religious rage. 
Barbarian bhndness. Christian zeal conspire. 
And Papal piety, and Gothic fire. 

Perhaps, by its own ruins sav'd from flame, 15 

Some bury'd marble half preserves a name : 
That Name the Learn'd with fierce disputes pursue, 
.\nd give to Titus old Vespasian's due. 

Ambition sigh'd : she found it vain to trust 
The faithless Column and the crumbling Bust : 20 

Huge moles, whose shadow stretch'dfrom shore to shCfJE", 
Their ruins perish*d, and their place no mqre ! 



iO MORAL ESSAi'S 

Convinc'd, she now contracts her vast desigrj, 
And all her Triumphs shrink into a Coin. 
A narrow orb each crowded conquest keeps. 
Beneath her palm here sad Judaea weeps. 
Now scantier hmits the proud arch confine, 
And scarce are seen the prostrate Nile or Rhine ; 
A small Euphrates thro' the piece is roU'd, 
And httle Eag-les wave their wing's in gold. 

The Medal, faithful to its charge of fame, 
Thro' climes and ages bears each form and name 
In one short view subjected to our eye 
Gods, Emp'rors, Heroes, Sages, Beauties, lie. 
■With sharp en'd sight pale Antiquaries pore, 
Th' inscription value, but the rust adore. 
This the blue varnish, that the green endears, 
The sacred rust of twice ten hundred years ! 
To gain Pescennius one employs his schemes. 
One grasps a Cecrops in ecstatic dreams. 
Poor Vadius long with learned spleen devour'd. 
Can taste no pleasure since his shield was scour'd 
And Curio, restless by the Fair-one's side. 
Sighs for an Otho, and neglects his bride. 

Theirs is the Vanity, the Learning thine : 
Touch'd by thy hand, ag'uin Rome's g'lories shine ; 
Her Gods, and godlike Heroes rise to view. 
And all her faded garlands bloom a-new. 
Nor blush, these studies thy regard engage ; 
These plcas'd the fathers of poetic rage : 
The verse and sculpture bore an equal part. 
And Art reflected images to Art. 



WEEPING. 71 

Oh when shall Britain, concious of" her claim, 
Stand emulous of Greek and Roman fame ? 
In Uving- medals see her wars enroU'd, 55 

And vanquish'd realms supply recording- gold ? 
Here, rising bold, the Patriot's honest face ; 
There Warriors frowning in historic brass : 
Then future ages with delight shall see 
How Plato's, Bacon's, Newton's looks agree ; 60 

Or in fair series laurell'd Bards be shown, 
A Virgil there, and here an Addison i 
Then shall thy Craggs (and let me call liim mine) 
On the cast ore", another Pollio, shine ; 
With aspect open shall erect his head, 65 

And round the orb in lasting notes be read, 
" Statesman, yet friend to Truth ! of soul sincere, 
" In action faithful, and in honour clear ; 
" Who broke no promise, served no private end, 
« Who gain'd no title, and who lost no friend ; 70 

" Ennobled by himself, by aU approv'd, 
« And prais'd, unenvy'd, by the Muse he lov'd," 



WEEPING. 

While Celia's Tears make sorrow bright, 
Proud grief sits swelling in her eyes : 

The Sun, next those the fai^tligl^i »* 1 1' flf 
Thus from the Ocean first did rise 



72^ weeping'o 

And thus thro' Mists we see tlie Sii% 
Wliich else we durst not gaze upon. 

These silver drops, like morning' dew, 
Foretell the fervor of the day : 

So from one cloud soft show'rs we view, 
And blasting lightnings bui'st away. 

Tht- Stars that fall from Celiacs eye. 

Declare our doom is di'awing nigh. 

The Baby in those sunny Spheres 

So hke a Phaeton appears. 
That Heav'n, the threaten 'd world to spare. 

Thought fit to drown him in her Tears : 
Else might th' ambitious Nymph aspire. 
To s^t, like him, Heav'n too on fire. 



THE ENIT 



BD-3 64. 



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Treatment Date: March 2009 



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